Steven
Spielberg rented stock footage to save money rather than re-creating
everything out of his own imagination. The DC-3 flying over
the Himalayas is lifted from 1973's Lost Horizon, while a 1930s
street scene was borrowed from The Hindenburg.

The
building used for one of the exterior shots of the university
is the large music conservatory on the campus of The University
of the Pacific in Stockton, California. It is right down the
street from where most of American Graffiti (1973) was filmed.

Visual
Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren appears as a Nazi spy who is
tracking Indiana Jones on the airplane. Only his eyes can be
seen, though, as most of his face is hidden behind the Life
Magazine he's reading. But something is wrong with the magazine.
Click here to read more about it.

Did
you know that? Actor Vic Tablian played 2 credited roles. He
played Barranca (the guide Indy whipped in the intro) and the
Monkey Man.

Script originally included a long fight between a swordsman
and Indiana with his whip. Actor Harrison Ford was suffering
diarrhea at the time, and asked if the scene could be shortened.
Spielberg said the only way he could shorten it was if Indy
pulled out his gun and just shot the guy. The entire crew laughed
and that's how it was filmed. Other Ford adlibs in the film
include: "I'm making it up as I go" and "It's
not the years honey, it's the mileage.

The
truck, that didn't have Marion in it, was flipped over by firing
a section of a telephone pole through the floorboards.

In reality, Harrison Ford wasn't afraid of snakes one bit and
treated his slithery co-stars with respect. However, once the
actor was back home after finishing the film, Ford was bitten
by a common snake in his own garden.
"Bugs, snakes, rats -- it's all the same to me," Ford
said. "It's just another day at the office."

Amongst
the horrifying jackals is a little piece of Star Wars cleverly
hidden in the dark Well of Souls. Look very closely at the wall
behind the Ark of the Covenant at the complex hieroglyphics
inscribed by "the ancients" and you might spot the
friendly droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. They can be seen on a post
next to Indy and Sallah as they remove the Ark. Smaller renditions
of them also run up and down the posts of the altar that houses
the sacred Ark.

In
filming the Well of Souls sequence, the producers scoured every
pet shop in London and the South of England for every snake
they could lay their hands on. Hence there are snakes that are
identifiable from many different geographical areas. However,
once all the snakes were on set, it became clear that there
were not nearly enough of them, so Spielberg had several hoses
cut into lengths, and these were used as well. Looking closely,
you can tell which are the real snakes and which are not.

Producer
Frank Marshall has a cameo role in the film. He is the Pilot
of the Flying Wing. Marion knocks him unconscious with a log
when he tries to shoot Indy.

During
the shooting of the fight sequence with the German mechanic,
Ford lost his footing and fell under one of the Flying Wing
airplane's tires which then proceeded to drive up his leg. Fortunately,
the plane's brakes worked, and the scalding Tunisua desert temperatures
softened the tires, so crewmembers were able to rock the plane
off of the pinned Ford.

Ford badly bruised his ribs during the scene where he is
dragged behind the truck. Harrison Ford was actually dragged
behind the truck for some of the shots. When asked if he was
worried, Ford quipped: "No. If it really was dangerous, they
would have filmed more of the movie first." The elaborate
truck chase sequence is modeled on the one in John Ford's
Stagecoach.

As
Belloq speaks, a fly craws into his mouth and doesn't appear
to come out. But seconds later a fly magically appears on Dietrich's
lapel, without appearing in any previous frames. It may possibly
be the same fly. The sound department also made sure to add
the sound of the fly escaping in the left audio channel.

The
scene where Indy threatens to blow up the Ark as it is being
carried through a canyon was filmed in the same canyon in Tunisia
used in Star
Wars: A New Hope when R2-D2 was zapped and stolen by Jawas.
When Indy is threatening to blow up the Ark Belloq say "You're
going to give mercenaries a bad name". When he says that a fly
flies into his mouth and you don't see it coming out again!

The
last scene of the entire movie, where we see the Ark in the
crate carrying away in a huge warehouse is a reference to the
classic Citizen Kane by Orson Welles. Where we see a similar
scene, also near the ending.

The
film reused the submarine model from Das Boot (1981). The director
of Das Boot Wolfgang Petersen directed also the Harrsion Ford
hit Air Force One in 1997.

Tom Selleck originally cast as Indiana Jones, but was committed
to Magnum. Later an episode entitled "Legends of the
Lost Art," Selleck paid homage to Raiders by going on
his own Indiana Jones inspired adventure complete with his
costume of a fedora hat, leather jacket and a bullwhip.
Sean Young was one of the first choices for the character
of Marion Ravenwood. A year before she played with Ford in
Blade
Runner.

Actor
Michael Sheard who played the uncredited role as the U-boat
Captain first auditioned for the role of Gestapo agent Toht,
but his friend Ronald Lacey got the part. Michael Sheard returned
for Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade in which he played Adolf Hitler.

An
early draft of the script had Indy traveling to Shanghai to
recover a piece of the Staff of Ra. During his escape from the
museum where it was housed, he sheltered from machine gun fire
behind a giant rolling gong. Also in the same script, Indy and
Marion flee the chaos caused by the opening of the Ark in a
wild mine-car chase sequence. Both of these scenes were cut
from the script, but ended up in Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Director
Steven Spielberg was quoted as saying: "I made it as a B-movie...
I didn't see the film as anything more than a better made version
of the Republic serials."

Indiana
Jones never loses his hat because it was thought that such a
thing would cause problems with continuity. It eventually becomes
a running joke through the series. On the left you can see a
picture of Ford on the set of Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade.